The Candlestick Lady

She woke up in the middle of the night when she heard a faint sound coming somewhere in her bedroom. She blinked her eyes twice, just to make sure she was actually awake. She drew a deep breath…no, it’s not real. It’s just part of her dream, a terrifying nightmare that haunted her down for several nights already.

Erk…eerk…!

There it goes again! And the pounding of her heart increased as she felt her body starting to shiver from an odd coldness which engulfed her body suddenly. For a momentary period, she stopped breathing just to get a grip of where that sound might be coming from.

Tik. Tok. Tik. Tok.

And she let out a gratifying sigh of relief. Nah! It was just the tickling of the clock. There was nobody there in her room except herself. And she felt stupid scaring herself at the witching hour. She closed her eyes tightly until she could almost feel a liquid damping her eyes. Strange. This was just so strange. Everything started to be strange…after the accident.

She shifted her weight to the other side of her bed and was about to close her eyes again when she thought she caught a glimpse of a woman staring at her outside the window. For a brief spell, she froze and couldn’t move although a part of her was dictating her to take a second glance. No way. She couldn’t look up. She was starting to feel the shiver in her body and the hairs on her nape starting to rise.

She’s here…she’s actually here in her room! She found her! The candlestick lady who has been following her around since Friday noon after the accident! She clutched tightly her grip on her quilt and inhaled deeply, filling her lungs with air in anticipation of a great scream. She would wake up Mom and Dad and Kim and Alex with her loud scream and bring them all running to her room and find this scary looking old woman wearing a strange foul smelling black dress with matching black veil and holding a candlestick whose fire has never gone out. They will see for themselves this creepy old creature tormenting her night and day and she would no longer burden herself explaining about the old lady and make herself sound innately insane. She counted: one…two…three!!!

And she made a great yelp, bringing herself to sit on her bed and screamed her heart out! She kept on screaming and screaming…! But wait. There was no sound. What’s going on?

She tried again and screamed the shit out of her but nothing came out! She tried again desperately. Nothing! WHAT THE HELL IS GOING ON?!

She wanted to cry but couldn’t bring out the tears down to her eyes. This was just so strange. And yet she could feel the lump forming in her throat. She was trembling but curiosity overtook her and challenged her to check if the old lady was still standing outside her window.

Slowly…slowly. She could hear the crackling sound of her own neck as her guts slowly made her to turn and check again her window.

Erk…eerk…!

That sound again! But there was no turning back now.

Erk…eerk…errk!

Her black eyes grew big in terror as she faced the old lady with a candlestick watching her intently from the window wearing an evil grin crossing her creased face.

Erk…eerk…!

She shook her head in terror, trying to wake herself up from this endless nightmare. She pounded the sides of her head with her clutched fists, hoping it would help bring her back to reality. No, no, no!

And then there was silence. The creepy sound was gone. The only sound now that she could hear was the pounding of her agitated heart. She opened her eyes slowly. It’s gone. Finally. She turned her gaze on her window and found the old lady still there, facing her eye to eye! The lady was twitching her head left and right as she examined her head carefully, leaving a creepy cracking sound with each twitch! The old lady was watching her intently. And then she grinned at her! Fuck!

“Sshiiellaaa…,” the old lady called her in a hoarse voice.

Her jaw dropped in extreme fear. She knew her name! Shiela wanted to run away screaming but couldn’t bring her body to move. And her panic suddenly came to her senses.

Erk…eerk…eek! She watched in horror as the creased, crooked, old and dirty fingers lift the window pane. Then the old hag brought her left foot inside. Then her right. Then her left arm. Then her right arm with candlestick. The old hag suddenly stopped and stared at her and grinned.

Run! Damn, run for your life! Her mind was screaming delirious but her body wouldn’t move.

Erk…eerrkk…! And the old hag brought her crooked body inside and she was now completely in Shiela’s room!

“Hellllooo….Sshiielllaaa! Rremmmemberrr…mmmeee?” And the old lady made a creepy giggling sound as she slowly moved herself toward the poor terror-stricken Shiela.

And as the old lady slowly approached her with her ghastly evil grin, Shiela finally found her feet and hurriedly dashed off from her bed, out of her room and ran as fast as she could to her parents’ room.

HELP! Mom…! Dad…! Help meeee…!

She was panting and scared as hell but upon reaching her parents’ room she stopped dead on her track when she found them both awake and sitting on the bed’s edge. Mom was crying so hard as Dad stroke down gently her back, pacifying and calming her. And such scene made her forget about the old lady with a candlestick.

“I never told her I loved her, Bob,” she said between sobs.

“It’s okay, Ellen. She’s in a better place now. We still have our two lovely kids to look for.”

Two? Two kids? What were they talking about? Didn’t tell her she loved her? Was there anything wrong with Kim? Did something bad happen to little Kimmy? For Pete’s sake what happened to Kim?!

“The doctors said it’s drugs and alcohol that killed her. She went blank before the car crashed,” Mom sobbed unstoppable as Dad hushed her like a baby.

“I have never been a good mother to her, Bob,” and Mom finally gave in as the sobbing turned into throbbing. Shiela watched confusingly as her dad, too, buried his head down to his palms and wept profusely. She inched further towards them. Car crashed? Drugs? Alcohol?

“My baby’s now gone! Bob, she’s gone! SHIELA’S NOW DEAD!”

And Shiela just stood there, frozen and shocked. DEAD?! This couldn’t be true. Her hands grasped her hair and pulled it painfully but she couldn’t feel it. Dead? Car Crashed? NNOOO…!!!

Erk…errk…!

Shiela stopped. She’s here. God, she’s here and no one, not even one, can save her!

“Sshhiielllaaa…!”

She turned around from where the hoarse voice was coming from and became dead pale upon seeing the old lady with candlestick standing right in front of her, grinning. Her old body smelled like a burnt carcass as Shiela caught a glimpse of a crawling maggot at the corner of the old lady’s chopped and dry lips. Slowly, the old hag let out her stinking burned tongue, reached for the maggot and slurped the poor creeping creature into her mouth and gulped in satisfaction.

Then the old lady grinned back at her and grabbed Shiela’s hand unexpectedly.